What is the difference between erase and format regarding cd-rw disks?
Should I erase or format a disc? How? (2001/03/18) First and foremost: you do not need to format a disc unless you’re using a packet writing program like DirectCD. If you’re running a program to create a CD, chances are good that you don’t need to format it. If you’re using “drive letter access”, i.e. treating the CD-R or CD-RW like a big floppy disk, then you do need to format it. Simple rule of thumb: don’t format it. Most software that needs a formatted disc will format it for you as needed. Formatting and erasing are different things. Formatting prepares a disc for recording. On a CD-R it writes a few basic things, on CD-RW it may write to most of the disc. The fixed-packet formatting that DirectCD does for CD-RW discs takes about 50 minutes on a 2x-speed rewritable drive. Erasing, which can only be done to CD-RW media, restores the disc to a pristine state. If you want to erase a disc, use the software that came with your CD-ReWritable drive. Somewhere in the army of applications
